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Hair- raising match again for spin ace Murali
By Marlon Fernandopulle
Sri Lanka's ace off spinner and Wisdens best ever bowler Muttiah Muralitharan is set to bowl in front of Australian Umpire Darell Hair for the first time tomorrow (Monday) after this umpire no balled the spinner in a Boxing day test match in 1995.Hair will be joined by Russell Tiffin when Sri Lanka take on England in a crucial VB Series game at the Sydney Cricket Ground tomorrow.

The call which sparked off a controversy over the bowlers action and strained relationships between Sri Lanka and Australia has since been the talking point, often when the spinner is in action, and whenever he reaches a milestone.

The 30 year old spinner who has already taken over 400 test wickets and nearly 300 one day wickets has played in front of all the ICC umpires who recognise his action as legitimate, except for Umpire Hair and a couple of other Australian umpires who feel otherwise.

Why, he should'nt call?
It is widely believed that due to Hair's adamant stand on Muralitharan he fell out of favour with the ICC and as a result was omitted from the Elite Umpires Panel.Although Hair was ranked as Australia's number one Umpire he was overlooked and another Australian umpire Daryl Harper was included in the Elite Umpires Panel.Today two Elite Umpires are officiating in all test matches and one elite umpire in every one day game.

Due to this system adopted by the ICC,Hair will never get an opportunity to officiate a test match in future and can only expect to officiate in one day games played in Australia.

With the elite umpires earning in hundreds and thousands of dollars per test match Darrell Hair is certain to have lost out and must be surely feeling his pockets now. With the ICC looking to increase the elite umpires panel, Hair will only ruin his chances further if he No balls or Reports Murali for his bowling action once again.

According to knowledgeable sources Hair is certain to be included in the Elite Panel as he is widely respected as one of the best umpires in the game today.However the ICC will not want to have him in the Elite panel if he is not in agreement with the legality of Murali's bowling action.Thus todays game will be a big test not only for Murali but for Hair as well.

Why, he should call?
Muttiah Muralitharan has not changed his action.He still bowls in the same manner he bowled on that controversial boxing day test in 1995.Thus, the big question is whether Darrell Hair will have the same opinion he had on that boxing day and no ball him or will he see(or pretend to see) something different in the bowlers action today and say to himself that this guy has now changed his action, which looks okay.

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